In the recent Love of Knitting: Knit Accessories issue, the collection of patterns allows for the knitter to use a small project to learn new skills and techniques. Click here to purchase your hard copy or digital edition of the magazine. Three of the patterns use yarn hand-painted by Red Barn Yarn! These shawl patterns are great summer projects as they are portable, lightweight, and can be put to use right away to keep summer breezes or air-conditioning chills at bay.

The Wimbledon Shawl is a wonderful introduction to incorporating texture in your knitting. The shawl is knit in two sections – a cabled section to represent the racquets, and a lace section to represent the netting. The instructions include both written and charted directions. Don’t let the cables or lace intimidate you – each technique is an intentional manipulation of your knitting. Cables are simply switching the location of stitches and lace can be thought of as intentional holes! Red Barn Yarn is pleased to offer yarn kits in Wimbledon and U.S. Open colorways, click here for the details!

Peaches and Cream is a lace shawl pattern in Llama Sparkle. This worsted weight yarn beautifully sets off the Lily of the Valley lace pattern. Working lace in a heavier weight yarn can be great as a first lace project as you’ll be able to really see your progress! Stitch markers are a key material in the making of this shawl; they are used to mark each side of the center back stitch.

If you are ready for a more involved lace project, consider the Colliers Wood Shawl. This pattern is worked in the round and the clever trick of changing needle sizes creates a flutter at the edge. The yarn is Black Pearl Fingering, hand-dyedpainted by Red Barn Yarn, a luxurious 50% pearl, 50% Tencel blend. In creating this shawl, you will have the opportunity to use lifelines, work from written or charted instructions, and finish with a picot bind off.

We’d love to hear about your experiences with these skill building shawls this summer! Let us know how it is going for you by leaving a comment on this blog post, over on our Facebook page, or in our Ravelry group. We’ve also put together a Pinterest board of “Helpful Advice” you will want to check out!